The opening ceremony is about just as multifaceted and colourful as the festival itself: The Guangdong Modern Dance Company will be presenting the work of choreographer Liu Qi, who created this piece for 13 dancers as a homage to traditional Chinese calligraphy. ‹Upon Calligraphy› is a poem of movements, inspired by the essence of different styles of Chinese scripts.
In the second part of the evening an adaption of ‹Peony Pavilion - Interrupted Dream› will be presented by Ars Electronica Futurelab from Linz, Austria, working in cooperation with Shanghai eARTS Festival. An innovative fusion of Kunqu Opera and current approaches in media art creates a virtual 3-D imagery that relates to the soundscapes on stage. Vocals and performance on stage are integral part of the stereoscopic visualizations projected on the wall, adding an additional narrative level to the piece.
In a third part the opening leads us to one of the finest vocal traditions of an ethnic minority in South-eastern China. Those vocal artists belonging to the Dong minority (original name: Kam) and living in Guizhou present their extraordinary polyphonic choir songs, which have been enlisted by the UNESCO as a world-class intangible cultural heritage.
